The present invention generally relates to hockey gloves. More specifically, the present invention relates to a hockey glove that includes a flexible finger system of one or more independently flexible fingers to allow an improved grip on a hockey stick.
Hockey gloves are used for the protection of hands of a hockey player, while playing the sport of hockey. Hockey gloves are a requirement in many hockey leagues, including the National Hockey League played in Canada and the United States. Current hockey gloves on the market comprise an upper layer and lower layer, which together form a hand area to receive the hand of a player. The lower layer is glove shaped and is made of leather and other fabric type materials. The lower layer includes a bottom and sides. The bottom includes a palm section. Extending from the palm section are four fingers in a finger section and a thumb in a thumb section. The sides extend between the sections of the bottom and the upper layer. The sides run along the outside shape of a hand and in between each of the fingers and the thumb. The bottom and sides cover the bottom and sides of the hand of a player. The upper layer is a protective layer attached to the top of the sides, whereby the bottom of the sides is attached to the bottom of the lower layer. The protective layer includes a foam layer attached to the sides of the lower layer and covers the outside top portions of the hand for the protection of the hands. The foam layer is usually covered with a leather or vinyl type covering for durability. During movement of the hand in the hockey glove, such as grasping a hockey stick, the player pulls all the foam portions of the hockey glove about the stick, during movement of the hand. This produces an unnatural and tight feel to the hand of the player, but does not really give the player the same grip or feel, as compared to using bare hands to grip the stick. Some players will cut a hole in one or more of the fingers of the hockey glove, so that they can insert a bare finger out of the hole and improve their grip on the stick. This is not a legal practice in most hockey leagues.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a hockey glove with at least one flexible finger to improve the grip on a hockey stick when using a hockey glove.